The future of the aging Scarborough Light Rail transit line will be the focus of discussions when members of the Toronto Transit Commission and the province’s regional transit agency meet today.

Metrolinx plans to replace the line with another light rail system. But some Toronto city councillors are pushing for an extension of the Danforth subway line instead.

Councillor Glen De Baeremaeker is fairly confident it’s going to happen.  “What I can guarantee the people of Scarborough is that there is going to be a Scarborough subway.”  De Baeremaeker has been leading the push for a subway extension. The LRT would cost $1.8-billion, while a subway is estimated to cost about half a billion more. De Baermaker tells the CBC, “in terms of city building, $500 million is not an outrageous number.”

But De Baeremaeker doesn’t have the support of all of his council colleagues, including Gord Perks.  “My colleagues are going to have to smarten up, and realize they’ve got one option only.  And that’s to take the signed agreement, get the light rail system built, and stop chasing a subway that no one has the money to build.”

TTC CEO Andy Byford will make the case for a subway extension at a meeting with Metrolinx today.